Leading worldwide research in fundamental and applied physics

Research

Be a part of large-scale research experiments at MAMI, TRIGA or at leading large scale facilities such as synchrotrons and neutron sources or the leading particle research centre CERN. Mainz offers the ideal infrastructure for studying physics. As a student, you benefit from an unusually wide range of research specializations and you can choose amongst more than 50 research groups. Already in the Bachelor Program, you may collaborate with and conduct research at leading international facilities both locally, nationally, and worldwide.

Our Research Groups

Many research groups offer paid internships which allow you to gain insights into the world of research. On the master and PhD levels, you may benefit from excellent partner institutions such as the Graduate School of Excellence Materials Science in Mainz or the Cluster of Excellence Precision Physics, Fundamental Interactions and Structure of Matter.  

  • Experimental Particle and Astroparticle Group

    The group focuses on the research of fundamental questions in modern particle physics such as the nature of dark matter. The researchers at ETAP seek answers to current research challenges by analyzing data collected at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN, by measuring neutrinos at the South Pole or conducting experiments in the Gran Sasso Laboratories.

  • Institute for Atmospheric Physics

    The research groups at the Institute for Atmospheric Physics cover various topics of atmospheric sciences. The experimental groups conduct research in the fields of trace gas dynamics, aerosol-cloud-interaction and particle chemistry. The world wide unique vertical wind tunnel facility is further used to study cloud processes on different scales in the lab. Within the field of theoretical meteorology the groups focus on fundamental research on cloud microphysics, predictability of weather (special research field: “Waves to Weather”) and earth system science.

  • Theoretical Particle Physics Group

    The research of the group deals with various aspects of the fundamental interactions of nature and elementary constituents of matter. It ranges from perturbative quantum field theory for the strong and electroweak interactions of quarks and leptons to effective field theories, theories within non-commutative geometry, nonperturbative quantum gravity and string theory.

  • Theoretical and Experimental Condensed Matter Physics

    Things get exciting when atoms start to interact in condensed matter systems. Key research areas of the research groups are many-body, spintronics and nanoelectronics theory as well as disordered systems and glasses, colloidal, macromolecular and other model systems and biological physics, experimental electronic und magnetic properties in novel materials, surface physics, magnetism and soft matter physics.

  • Theoretical and Experimental Quantum Physics

    The group focuses on researching cold ions and applications, quantum optics and quantum information, laser spectroscopy, atomic and neutron physics and related tests of fundamental symmetries, hybrid atom-ion quantum systems as well as the development of novel detectors and detection systems for precision physics.

  • Institute for Nuclear Physics

    The research conducts research on the structure and the interaction of elementary particles, especially on understanding the so-called strong force and its implications on nuclear and particle physics. This experimental research is accompanied by theoretical groups working, for example, on hadron structure and meson production as well as lattice gauge theories.

Research Infrastructure

The basis of our research is our excellent infrastructure. Starting with the availability of research facilities like coating technology, clean rooms, precision measurement technology, air-conditioned optical laboratories with precision tables and various lasers, climate chambers, helium liquefiers, cryogenics, supra-conducting magnets, central detector and electronics labs, as well as well-equipped workshops with technicians and engineers to our big infrastructure facilities such as:

Computer Cluster MOGON

The cluster with more than 30,000 cores for the study of elementary particle collisions, lattice quantum chromodynamics calculations and the simulation of condensed matter applications.

TRIGA Research Reactor

The research reactor functions as high-intensity source of neutrons for answering fundamental questions in nuclear chemistry and physics.

Particle Accelerator MAMI

The accelerator provides electron beams up to an energy of 850 MeV, allowing researchers to study the scattering of electrons and real photons as well as parity violating effects.

Affiliated Institutions

Several research institutions on campus provide additional infrastructure and conduct research. They fulfill tasks in the fields of research in physics. This includes teaching and the transfer of knowledge as well as studying, information and communication technology.

  • Cluster of Excellence PRISMA+

    The cluster addresses the basic questions about the nature of the fundamental building blocks of matter and their importance for the physics of the universe. PRISMA+ consists of renowned research groups that work primarily in the areas of astroparticle, high energy and hadron physics, nuclear chemistry as well as precision physics with ultra-cold neutrons and ion traps.

  • MAINZ School of Excellence/MPGC Max Planck Graduate School

    The graduate school fosters the education of highly talented PhD students through research excellence in the fields of functional polymers, model systems and correlated materials, hybrid structures and bio-related materials.

  • Spin Phenomena Interdisciplinary Center

    The center focuses on the rotation of the electron around its own axis generating a magnetic field. This is the basis of today’s information storage technology and has provided new design possibilities in many fields of application: from faster electronics to new high-capacity data storage concepts up to new ways to create advanced materials with directly designed properties.

  • Helmholtz Institute Mainz

    The institute for the research of the structure, the symmetry and the stability of matter and anti-matter is operated in cooperation with the GSI in Darmstadt. Its eight sections are headed by international leading experts in the field of nuclear and atomic physics. Its research focuses on the precise and quantitative understanding of the effects of the strong interaction in atomic, nuclear, hadronic and particle physics.

  • Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research

    The Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research in Mainz is searching for suitable conducting polymers for applications like microchips and sensors or solar cells. The researchers in Mainz are developing new procedures to spectrographically investigate polymers and to simulate their behaviour on the computer. This work is coducted in close collaboration with the Department of Physics at Mainz University.

Address

Johannes Gutenberg-University Mainz
Faculty Physics, Mathematics and Computer Science
  • Staudingerweg 7
    55128 Mainz, Germany
  • +49 6131 39 20660
  • physics@uni-mainz.de